Knock-down cabinet with integrally hinged panels



Dec. 3. 1969 c. J NEWMAN ETAL KNOCK-DOWN CABINET WITH INTEGRALLY HINGED PANELS Filed Dec. 4, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jig/.5

attorneys KNOCK-DOWN CABINET WITH I NTEGRALLY HEE NGED PANELS Filed Dec 4, 196'? 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 A a2 [8% 7 a Q /8 72 75 a! 20 dweziaz' h- 22 Y 6247765 7/ew722a7z Wfter' froze (fig 7 M Dec- 23. 19 c. J. NEWMAN ETAL 3,485,545

KNOCK-DOWN CABINET WITH INTEGRALLY HINGED PANELS.

Filed Dec. 4, 1967 S Sheets-Sheet 3 w 11 H H 5 w 5 H @w m g 0 W V H 7 4 w d W 3 z 7 UH... M J a A. a M 0 l|l1|| n 7 r N WM 6 1 AG M W w 1 w 5 i HIHHH I I IVN M a m w T |P m ai h 3,485,545 KNOCK-DOWN CABINET WITH INTEGRALLY HINGED PANELS Charles J. Newman and Walter F. Grote, Madison, Ind., assignors to The Grote Manufacturing Company, Inc., Madison, Ind., a corporation of Kentucky Filed Dec. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 687,714 Int. Cl. A47b 43/00, 47/04 US. Cl. 312--258 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Small hinges have been produced commercially from synthetic resin such as polypropylene and polyallomer. The product known commercially as Tenite is a specific example. The hinged leaves are connected integrally by a web of reduced thickness which is fatigue-resistant and can be bent back and forth indefinitely without breakage. When such a hinge is formed, it has unoriented molecular change. If the hinge leaves are thereupon flexed along the line of reduced thickness which is to provide the fulcrum between the leaves, particularly if such flexing occurs while the hinge retains the heat imparted to it during formation, the molecules are oriented to minimize the possibility of breakage during subsequent operation.

In the instant invention, relatively few hinged movements between the interconnected parts will be required with the exception of embodiments in which the cabinet doors are hinged integrally with the side or end walls.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is primarily concerned with the construction of a knock-down cabinet in which a number of walls (which may include the doors) are foldably connected in series by integrally formed hinges, as by extruding, molding, machining, or heat stamping, with lines of reduced thickness where folding is to occur. These walls may be folded upon each other for storage or shipment and may then be folded oppositely to erect the walls for use, in which position they are held by molded caps or inserts. For the purposes hereof, the folding movements are called hinge movements, even when there are only such movements as are required for erection or collapse, no hinging being involved in use.

By reason of this construction, relatively few parts are required for a complete knockdown cabinet. The problems of manufacture, storage, packaging, shipment and erection are thereby greatly reduced, and a strong attractive product can be produced at minimum expense and erected with minimum effort. Channels for sliding doors and brackets for shelves can, in many cases, be produced as integral parts of the connected wall portions to project oppositely when the walls are collapsed for storage or shipment and to project in positions for use when the walls are erected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a View in perspective of a complete cabinet embodying the invention.

United States Patent O "ice FIG. 2 is a fragmentary detail view in plan of a web including integrally hinged portions which are to become wall portions, door channels and shelf brackets in the erected cabinet.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary end elevation of the web shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an end elevation of the integrally connected panels as folded back to back in position for storage or shipment.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary detail view showing portions of contiguous panels as erected preliminary to assembly with molded end caps.

FIG. 6 is a view in perspective fragmentarily showing portions of the panels and a shelf, one associated end cap being separately illustrated.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary detail view showing a modified embodiment in which the door track panels are separately fabricated and attached to the integrally hingedly connected side panels.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing a further modified embodiment using separately prefabricated track channels.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a modified embodiment of cabinet having doors integrally hinged to the side or end walls and back wall and molded top and bottom.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary detail view taken in section from front to rear through the molded top, the back wall, and one of the doors.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary detail view in horizontal section through the end walls and doors and the molded door liners and molded frame and shelf support preferably used in this construction.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary detail view showing in plan a modified embodiment using a separate back panel which is preferred when the cabinet is large.

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary view in perspective showing a modified embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The sliding door type of cabinet shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 comprises top, back, and bottom wall portions 16, 18 and 20 connected by integral hinge or foldable portions 22. The hinge portions comprise webs 24 at the bottom of elongated V-shaped notches 26, the sides 28 and 30 of which converge toward the web as best shown in FIG. 3. The webs are, as already stated, highly flexible and can be bent repeatedly through a 270 range without breakage. For the purposes of this application, only a limited number of bending operations are required.

In the initial extrusion, all of the above portions will normally be formed in a continuous web, from which is then cut a sheet as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. In the web, the portion which becomes panel 16 will be provided integrally with whatever flanges are required to make the desired number of door guide channels 32 and 34. Similarly the panel 20 will be provided integrally with whatever flanges are required to make the bottom door guide channels 36 and 38. These may optionally be reinforced by metal insert channels 39. The back panel 18 will be made to provide integrally whatever flanges 40 may be required to contribute to the support of any needed shelf.

Upon completion of the extrusions shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the panels 16 and 20 will be folded reversely to bring the back side 42 of the top panel 16 into face contact with the back side 44 of the back panel 18. Similarly, the bottom panel 20 will be folded beneath back panel 18 to bring its lower surface 46 into face contact with the back surface 44 of the back panel 18. This will leave the shelf-supporting flanges 40 projecting upwardly and the door-guiding flanges 48, 50, 52, 54, 56 and 58 projecting downwardly. The extruded parts are otherwise flat as thus folded.

It will be observed that the door guide channels 36 and 38 provided for the bottom margin of the doors 60 and 62 are relatively shallow, the top channels 32 and 34 for the upper margins of the doors being deeper. This facilitates insertion and removal of the doors by displacing them upwardly until their lower margins clear flanges 54, 56 and 58. The design construction of the top and bottom track sections provides an open channel at 68 which may be used to receive a reinforcing metal strip such as the angle 70 shown in FIG. 6.

In the alternative embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the top and bottom panels 16 and 18 do not have the door guides formed integrally as a part of the initial fabrication. Instead they are provided respectively with flanges such as those shown at 72 in FIG. 7 or 74 in FIG. 8 and the respective upper and lower door guide members 76, 78, 80 and 82 are made with slots 84 or 86 to receive these flanges so that the door guide members may he slid longitudinally in connection with panels 16 and 18 into positions for use. These constructions may then be folded for storage or shipment and opened for erection in a manner substantially identical to that already described.

It will be understood that a wide variety of other cross sections and other means of reinforcement may be used within the contemplation of the invention and the invention is not concerned with the dimensions of the parts.

To erect the cabinet panels shown in FIG. 4, the respective panels are first reversely folded on their respective hinges to assume the positions shown in FIGS. and 6. They are then held in erected position by means of end caps such as that shown at 90 in FIGS. 1 and 6. The end caps may conveniently be molded to provide end walls 92 and short top and bottom Walls 94 and 96 and short rear walls 98 and front walls 100..These telescope over the top and bottom panels 16 and 20, and rear wall 18, and the flanges 52 and 58 which guide the doors. Holes are provided at 102 in each end cap which register with holes 104 in the ends of the walls as originally fabricated to receive connecting screws 106 to hold the end caps in assembly with the wall panels.

In the construction shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, the door panels 110 and 112 are integrally hingedly connected by the hinges 22 with end panels 114 and 116, respectively. The end panels 114, 116 hingedly connected to the doors 110 and 112 at their forward margins may be similarly foldably connected by hinges 22 along their upright rearward margins to a back panel 118 as shown in FIG. 9. However, in larger cabinets it is preferred that the rear panel portions thus connected be limited to the flanges 120 shown in FIG. 12 thus using two separately prefabricated assembles for the respective ends and associated doors. The short flanges are then interconnected by a separately fabricated back panel 122 which may be held in place by the same screws 124 which connect the integrally connected parts of the cabinet to separately fabricated internal frames 126 which reinforce the respective end walls 114 and 116. These will desirably be molded of synthetic resin. These frames are further held in place by screws 128 which connect the molded top and bottom members 130 to the portions 114, 116, 118.

I also prefer to reinforce each of the doors 110 and 112 individually with a molded frame 134 held thereto by screws 136 (FIGS. and 11), or by other conventional fastening means such as a snap or connection into an invisible channel.

The molded frames which reinforce the end walls 114, 116 are preferably made to provide integral shelf-supporting flanges 138 shown in full lines in FIGS. 11 and 12 and in dotted lines in FIG. 9.

It appears to be unnecessary to show the panels of FIGS. 9 to 12 as they appear when collapsed, as the co]- lapsed structure is very similar to that shown in FIG.

the differences only being such as are inherent in the diflerent dimensions of the respective panels.

It will be observed that the various hinges 22 are really used routinely as hinges only in the operation of the doors and 112. At no place in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 8 (and in no place in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 9 to 12 other than in connection with the door supports), do the hinges function as such at any time except in the collapse or erection of the integrally connected panels. When the panels are erected and the product is in use as a cabinet, the hinges 22 serve only to provide continuously closed integral corner connections between panels.

FIG. 13 demonstrates the fact that in certain cases the foldably connected panels need not necessarily be integral from one end of the series to the other. In this embodiment thetstrips and 182 are respectively foldably connected to panels 16 and 20. This permits the use of a separately fabricated back panel 184, which may be of wood, metal, glass, or plastic and which has its top and bottom margins engaged frictionally or adhe'sively in the channels 186, 188 of strips 180, 182 so that operation is the same as above described.

What is claimed is:

1. A cabinet comprising top, back, and bottom panels and intervening panel-connecting foldable hinge portions connected in series, the hinge portions comprising integral flexible elongated areas of reduced thickness, end panels for holding the top, back, and bottom panels erected in predetermined relationship to each other to constitute portions of a cabinet, each of said panels comprising a cap having flanges with which rear margins of the respective first mentioned panels are telescopically associated, front margins of the respective top and bottom panels having complementary flanges in which cabinet doors are slidably reciprocable.

2. A cabinet according to claim 1 in which margins of the panels at the ends of the series are provided with interlocking tongue and groove means for connecting such ends to give the connected panels a cross sectional form which is a closed geometrical figure.

3. A cabinet according to claim 1 in which the panels comprise top, rear wall, and bottom panels, the top and bottom panels having free margins at the ends of the series, and separately fabricated channel elements in connection with such margins and constituting tracks for a sliding closure for said cabinet.

4. A cabinet according to claim 3 in which said panel margins and separately fabricated channel elements are respectively formed to provide integral tongues and grooves which interlock to provide a connection between the channel elements and the respective panel margins.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,002,246 5/ 1935 Miller 312--259 2,109,612 3/1938 Blechman 312-260 2,149,882 3/ 1939 Clements 3 12-25 8 2,244,679 6/ 1941 Derman 312-260 2,274,765 3/1942 Zalkind 312258 X 2,877,511 3/1959 Viola 312--295 X 3,321,259 5/1967 Fiterman et a1. 312-259 FOREIGN PATENTS 813,762 5/ 1959 Great Britain.

1,424,379 2/ 1965 France.

JAMES T. McCALL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 3 12 -3 50 

